Little River Canyon ride.
OK..so here's my version of the story... and I'm stickin to it.
I'd been off and on about going in the first place, so when Mark got up at 7:00 to start getting ready he didn't know my plans. In the meantime, I had set a time in my mind that I needed to get up and had no intention of getting up before then (that was 830). Clock hits 830 and I'm up. Mark walks in and what to his wondering eyes should appear but his wife getting ready in her new ridin gear. (I borrowed that from a story I once read)
While he's getting the bikes ready I'm getting the MP3's loaded down with fresh new music and batteries to last the day.
Wade (atpeacewithbonny) gets to the house by 9ish and unloads and we all get situated to go, and off we go. Down to Martins to meet up with John (bigpoppy). Someone forgot to mention before we left that they were planning a meet and greet inside the restaurant, so I pull through the bank next door to get John to follow us out to avoid the heavy traffic of Martins (you'd have to have a Martins near you to understand). We went to a nearby gas station and did the meet and greet there for about 15 minutes. Finally...we're off to Alabama to meet Ed. Made pretty good time save for the kids needing to stop. (Note: no actual children were taken on this ride) One adjustment, and one potty break (you know how it is, one goes and everyone else has to go too even if they didn't know they had to go) later we arrive none the worse for wear. One more fill up stop and we're on our way.
We found a really neat little restaurant and stopped and ate a pretty good lunch, and then rode on down to DeSoto Falls, stopped for some admiring and tourguiding and envying and pics (and a quick change of clothes for me...time to shed some layers.
Back on the bikes and off to the Little River Canyon Falls where we met up with Ed's wife (I'm soooo sorry...I forgot her name) and their dog squeaky (too easy to remember).
Walked down to the falls for some beautiful scenery and more camaraderie, it was beautiful and so powerful. Amazing to see. We saw 1 triumph, and Mark finally realized that Ed actually knew the lady with the dog following us around.
We saddled up and headed up to our next destination. Scenic overlook with thick gravel for parking. I almost didn't get stopped in the gravel, but I didn't drop her and actually pulled it off without looking like I was petrified. More pics and beautiful scenery and talking and off to our next stop, another beautiful overlook...even more breathtaking than the last. It's here that we get a lesson in folding chaps from Wade. A lot of laughs and 2 pair of chaps less (Mark shed his too), we're on our way.
At this point I have no idea where we're going, but buddy once we get down out of the twisties, we are flying. It was a BLAST. The curves are nice, but there's something to be said for being able to open it up every once in a while. So we drive past Weiss Lake which to me seems a lot bigger that the lake we have around here... and much cleaner. We finally stopped at a Fireworks shop, which happens to be where we met up with Ed in the first place. I of course have to run in for the obligatory fireworks for the 15 y.o., we part ways with Ed and hightail it back to Hiram. Arrived it safely back home at around 800 pm. House looks like a tornado hit it and Amber's got many, many tales of woe from her day of Brad babysitting her, but hey...that's the price you pay for a day of peace on the bike.
